Happy New Year !

First of all, I want to wish you all a Happy New Year!

A couple of days ago I found an illustrated third edition, dating to 1890, of one of my favorite childerens books: Francis Burnett's, Little Lord Fauntleroy or in Dutch De Kleine Lord. I couldn't resist buying it, hopefully it will help coping with the withdrawal symptoms of not working on a costume ;-)

Pictures of Anton Pieck Parade uploaded ! And Merry Christmas

A good view of my late victorian hat.


The best picture I have of my long black victorian coat.



To see more go to our website:
A Victorian Wardrobe and click on Photoalbum

And some color versions on De Zwarte Zwaan website



Merry Christmas to All!

Anton Pieck Parade 2009

A couple of pictures of the Anton Pieck Parade of yesterday. It was really cold outside we where lucky enough to have a nice home for the day in Karco. They took excellent care of us. This was our son's first year and it was really hard to keep him entertained with the few authentic victorian toys for boys we could find. There was a lot of public, there were even two ladies from Belgium who came especially for this event. It made me feel very humble and I truly hope they had a good time. The long black victorian coat was finished just in time. It kept me nice and warm on the cold day. I hope to have more pictures on our websites soon. I'll keep you posted.

Seams

I do not have a lot of time left for the 12th December and I didn't get much work done the last week. Due to my son his eight birthday and the preparations for Sinterklaas. On top of that I've been very tired.

The coat looks finished enough, with only the sleeves that still need to be set in. But as the coat has been flat lined, fashion fabric and quilted lining sown together, there are a lot of raw seams inside my coat. The fashion fabric frays terribly so all seams have to be covered with bias tape. Which is an awful lot of work as it needs to be done by hand in order not to show on the outside of the coat. Here is how the seams of the sleeves look inside out at this moment. I am still working on the black velvet cuffs.



I wasn't happy with my big 1902's black glass buttons and decided to use them for a Edwardian coat. So I bought seven victorian black glass 1.25 inch buttons on Ebay.



They probably aren't going to be here on time. I'll wait untill the last moment and then sewn on horrible plastic ones of similar size, so that I can wear the coat on the 12th December.

The back of the coat with, what the instructions called boxpleats, looks fine. I just followed the instructions, as usual with Truly Victorian they where clear and easy to follow.

All in all there is still a lot of work that needs to be done, before the coat is wearable and I am not sure that it will be finished on time....

Buttons, buttons, buttons....

Sometimes when make costumes you are faced with tough decisions.
Like what buttons to use... ;-)

The buttons I bought for my long victorian coat, are probably more art nouveau/art deco. As I still have an Edwardian costume planned (somewhere in the future) I'd much rather use them then. I think they are to big and not nearly elegant enough to use for this costume.

This weekend I visited the verzamelaarsbeurs in Utrecht (sort of antiques fair) in search of black glass buttons. I did find some, which are suitable for the cuffs, but none for the front. Next stop was Ebay and Marktplaats, but no luck there either. This morning I went to the market and found some horrible black plastic buttons, nicely faceted, but otherwise horrible and plastic. The coat is no where near being finished. The sleeves still need to be set in, it needs to be hemmed, I'm not quite happy with how the pleats in the back look etc etc. I am obessing about the buttons, if I have to buy them on Ebay
Meanwhile I ought to be busy with other things, like preprations for Sinterklaas and my sons upcoming birthday.

I promised my husband not to stress over this coat, but in all honesty I really would like to have it finished (read wearable) before the Anton Pieck Parade on the 12th of December, sooner preferably

La Mode Illustree, July 1885

I bought this magazine because it was printed on my birthday the 5th of Juli and I am sharing these scans just for fun. The best thing about this magazine is that it came complete with the original patterns!

Boxpleats

To my great hapiness my sewingmachine is back from the workshop. Time to start working on my long black victorian coat. I have traced and cut the pattern and have checked that the length I want, ankle length, is possible with the amount of fabric that I have.
The coat has boxpleats in the back and I have no clue on how to make them. So it is time to search the internet.

http://www.burdastyle.com/techniques/make-box-and-inverted-box-pleats

http://www.ehow.com/how_5003362_make-box-pleat-valance.html

http://www.instructables.com/id/Box-Pleat-Apron/

And my sewing books ofcourse.

First stop is making a mock-up model in cheap fabric to "test drive" the pattern.
I don't like wasting fabric (and time) so it will be a shorter version of the coat.


This is the pattern I am working with:



Truly Victorian 1880's Late Bustle Coat
I am going to make a fitted ankle lenght coat, with normal sleeves and a roll collar with notched lapel.



The black velvet is the fabric for the collar and maybe cuffs. I haven't decided yet if I am going to use the black satin pipingcord.
The black glass buttons have a flat top with a faceted edge. The seller told me that they are a hundred years old, which would make them Edwardian in period.